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Full Idea
Some things are not naturally pleasant but become so, either through injury, or through habit, or through congenital depravity.
Gist of Idea
Some things are not naturally pleasant, but become so through disease or depravity
Source
Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics [c.334 BCE], 1148b16)
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'Ethics (Nicomachean)', ed/tr. ThomsonJ A K/TredennickH [Penguin 1976], p.237
A Reaction
We might say that there are indeed 'unnatural pleasures' (e.g. sadism?), but still have to admit that we have no clear way of distinguishing the natural from the unnatural. What about gambling? Or watching horror films?
| 381 | We feel pleasure when we approach our natural state of harmony [Plato] |
| 2156 | There are three types of pleasure, for reason, for spirit and for appetite [Plato] |
| 5256 | Some things are not naturally pleasant, but become so through disease or depravity [Aristotle] |
| 5258 | While replenishing we even enjoy unpleasant things, but only absolute pleasures when we are replenished [Aristotle] |
| 520 | The great pleasures come from the contemplation of noble works [Democritus (attr)] |
| 522 | Moderation brings more pleasures, and so increases pleasure [Democritus (attr)] |
| 6236 | People more obviously enjoy social pleasures than they do eating and drinking [Shaftesbury] |
| 3547 | Epicureans achieve pleasure through character development [Annas] |
| 4907 | The 'locus coeruleus' is one of several candidates for the brain's 'pleasure centre' [Carter,R] |